F I L E T

SS SPACE SPACE: How would you describe FILET?

FILET: FILET is an artist-run space for experimental art production in Hoxton, London directed by established artists and local residents Rut Blees Luxemburg and Uta Kögelsberger . We have an open, receptive and non market-led approach, acting as both a vessel and instrument for culture. Post-Covid Rut initiated the notion of Spatial Value to focus the concept of FILET and research how art can be part of a neighbourhood economy, idea exchange as well as generating visual pleasure. We are rooted in Murray Grove, a local high street in Hackney nestled amongst social housing estates in close proximity to the ‘digital’ round-a-bout of Old Street. Our exhibitions, shows, events explore new positions in contemporary art, urban aesthetics, and social practice. We introduced different modes of exhibition duration, a show can last one day or three weeks.

Joshua Beaty

SS: How did your space begin? Could you tell me what prompted you/ your team to start this space and its programming?

F: FILET started 10 years ago in 2015. We noticed the empty shop on the high-street that had been a butcher, a community space, and an internet cafe and now was deserted. We approached the council of Hackney to rent the space from them. We then invited a young sculpture graduate from the RCA, Jude Crilly, and she designed the space for us, introducing the ‘majorelle blue’ for the facade and developing the unique website. The name FILET recalls the previous butcher’s, but also suggests the best cut!

SS: What is a typical day like at FILET?

F: Everyday looks different depending on who is in the space, we do short shows with a quick turn around to avoid leaving the space empty. From exhibitions to workshops, gigs to magazine launches, talks and performances, we’ve had an array of artists and cultural producers sharing their practices and ideas. We have a big window opening onto the street so when you walk past FILET you will typically see people installing, deinstalling, performing, scheming, gathering and commingling.

starting the space

SS: Could you share a few programmes that FILET runs?

F: Currently our main curatorial programme is formed by in-house curator Brenna Horrox, who for the last 3 years invited artists, makers and thinkers from their fields of interest to experiment in the space. We enjoy artists testing new ideas, responsive to space and time. This programme is intergenerational, interdisciplinary, local and global as well as exhibiting established artists and those considered ‘outsider’ artists. When we began in 2015 each artist’s exhibition opening would include an ‘introduction’ by another practitioner; they would offer a response to the show. Although we have not carried this format on, many of our exhibitions have events, performances, talks etc alongside them continuing this focus on cross-pollination of dialogue through different disciplines and mediums. For example in Philippe Daerendinger’s show Amateurs in 2023 we held a listening session of German 19th Century music from local composer Kenneth Tipple's archive.

During Covid we ran Publika Fenestro where we transformed the window into a public interface, displaying work from invited artists, seen from the pavement. Thus the local neighbourhood had visual prompts - diverting, stimulating and thought provoking. The Taiwanese artist Steph Huang made a work for the series of a shopping trolley submerged in the river.

This year we will be running a programme celebrating 10 years of FILET, launching a publication that documents every exhibition, event, reading, that has happened at FILET. Leading up to this we are curating a series of exhibitions, workshops and interventions that expand on our spatial engagement; exploring our relationship to the diverse spaces we inhabit and the expansive communities we are in dialogue with.

Our Off-duty programme operates alongside our main programme - it offers cultural producers in need of sharing their art, fashion, design, music, products and research for a peppercorn rent. In a stratified city such as London, FILET broadens the remit of how a gallery can operate within the wider socio-cultural community.

FILET is constantly evolving its curatorial strategy through the Off-duty programme - an organic sponge, or urban observatory -  that is maximum open and receptive , and does away with art gate-keeping and sclerotic hierarchies. We are hyper-receptive to the needs of the emergent cultural producers in London and beyond.

SS: How does FILET connect with and support artists/creatives?

F: Each exhibition we do connect us with more artists, scenes and communities. We collaborate with people we know from our own interests but this always leads us to more people we don’t know yet. People get in touch with us after coming to our openings - shows or events come about through this. We connect to the creative scene through the physical space being active and open. We support artists and creatives by offering a space that is not beholden to the art market. FILET is visible and situated amongst people's daily lives and we encourage artists to think about this; to experiment with ways of communicating their ideas to new publics.

SS: How do you ensure the sustainability of your space?

F: By allowing the space to evolve as we go. Opening the space for creative endeavours outside the curated programme,  for a peppercorn rent, allows us to keep financially afloat. We want to support creatives that have a DIY and sustainable appproach. Even though our shows are fast paced and FILET  transforms continually - this is not through building fake walls or elaborate sets but through art, ideas, communities and diverse practices inhabiting the space.

London

online interview

2024

translator: Sean Tseng

photographs © FILET

SS: How do you envision FILET in the next five years?

F: We already have a couple of permanent artworks installed on the thresholds of FILET - a door handle by local artist Mama J, The Esperanto of Currency doormat by Sarah Staton, a ceramic bird house by Philip Dorl and miniature gum paintings on the pavement outside by iconic London artist Ben Wilson. We hope over the next 5 years we will be able to explore this realm more, blurring the lines between the gallery and the public. We are working towards building a street library opposite  FILET. A functional artwork, the book box/shelf will act as a micro space and hub for ideas exchange within the neighbourhood. We are starting to think about a number of ‘parklets’ outside FILET, occasioned by artist and architect Reuben from the Patch Collective, who showed at FILET. We envision FILET thriving over the next five years as more artists come through its doors to think, make, speak and act. 

SS SPACE SPACE:你會如何形容 FILET？

FILET: FILET是一個位於倫敦霍克斯頓（Hoxton）由居住當地的藝術家 Rut Blees Luxemburg 和 Uta Kögelsberger 主導的藝術家自營空間。FILET 作為乘載文化的空間，一向秉持著開放、包容且非市場導向的理念，持續推動實驗性的藝術創作。在疫情後，Rut 提出了「空間價值」的概念，並以此為 FILET 定位，研究藝術如何成為社區經濟的一部分，並且促進思想交流與視覺經驗。

FILET 所在地位於當地的主要街道，靠近東倫敦老街（Old Street ）的數字圓環，周圍皆是社會住宅區。FILET 的展覽和活動旨在探索當代藝術、城市美學和社會實踐的新方向，並在實踐中引入了不同的展覽模式——每一檔展覽時間約為一天至三週。

SS: 當初是什麼使你與夥伴決定要成立 FILET 呢？

F: FILET 的故事可以追溯到十年前，也就是大約 2015 年。當時，我們注意到一間位於主街上的空無一人的閒置店鋪，後來得知這間店鋪曾經是一家肉舖、社區活動中心，甚至還曾是一家網咖。之後我們便透過當地區議會接洽成功租下了這個空間。接著我們邀請了一位剛從倫敦皇家藝術學院畢業的年輕雕塑家 Jude Crilly 來為我們設計這個空間，她設計以「馬裘黑藍（majorelle blue）」作為的空間外觀的主要顏色，並為我們打造了獨樹一格的網站。而FILET 這個名字也不僅讓人能連結到空間之前的肉舖，也同時象徵肉品的最上等部位。

SS:可以和我們分享在 FILET 的一天嗎？

F: 每天的樣貌都因空間裡的人而有所不同——我們舉辦的展覽通常時間不長，而且很快就會更換，這樣一來便可以減少閒置空間的時間。我們舉辦的活動形式多樣，從展覽到工作坊，從音樂會到雜誌發表會，以及講座與表演等，許多藝術家和文化工作者都曾在這裡分享他們的創作和想法。在 FIELT 的空間有一扇大窗戶正對著街道，所以當人們經過時，也通常會看到空間中有人正在布展、撤展、表演、討論、聚會或交流。

SS: 可以請你和我們分享一些 FILET 的計畫嗎？

F: 我們目前主要的策展計畫是由駐館策展人 Brenna Horrox 負責——過去三年來，她邀請了來自不同領域的藝術家、創作者和思想家來這裡進行實驗。我們鼓勵藝術家在這個空間裡嘗試新的想法，並對空間和時間做出回應。這個策展計劃跨越世代、學科與國界，我們曾邀請了知名藝術家參與，也與許多被視為「外來者」的藝術家合作。在 2015 年計劃執行之初，每場展覽的開幕都會邀請另一位藝術工作者「引言」；而現在我們則是以活動、表演和講座促進不同學科和媒介之間的對話。例如，在 2023 年 Philippe Daerendinger 的展覽《業餘者》（Amateurs）中，我們舉辦了一場播放當地作曲家 Kenneth Tipple 收藏的 19 世紀德國音樂的聆聽會。

在疫情期間，我們推出了 Publika Fenestro 計劃，將 FILET 的窗戶轉變為公共展示空間，讓邀請藝術家的作品能夠被路過的人看到。這樣一來，當地社區居民便可以從這些視覺作品中獲得啟發並引發思考。臺灣藝術家 Steph Huang 曾在這個計畫中製作了一輛沉入河水中的購物車的作品。

今年為了慶祝 FILET 成立十週年，我們將舉辦一系列計畫，包含策劃展覽、工作坊和參與性的活動，並計畫推出一本紀錄 FILET 所有展覽、活動和讀書會的出版物，深入探索 FILET 與其周遭空間的互動並持續開啟對話。

另外，我們的 Off-duty 計劃與主要策展計劃並行運作——此計畫提供藝術、時尚、設計、音樂、產品和研究的工作者以極低的租金承租 FILET。在像倫敦這樣階層分明的城市，FILET 重新定義了畫廊在社會與文化社群中的角色。

透過 Off-duty 計劃，FILET 不斷發展其策展方針——就像一塊有機海綿或城市觀測站般，以極其開放與包容的方法，打破了藝術界的門檻和僵化的層級制度。我們對倫敦及其他地區新興文化創作者的需求高度敏感，並且隨時準備接納並支持他們的創作。

SS: FIELT 如何串連並支持藝術工作者呢？

F: FILET 透過每次展覽能與更多藝術家、創作團體和社群建立連結。我們通常與我們熟識並有共同興趣的人合作，而這些合作往往帶領我們認識更多藝術工作者。許多人在參加我們的開幕活動後會主動聯繫我們，也因而產生後續的展覽與活動。我們時時保持 FILET 這個實體空間的活躍和開放，並與創意及藝術圈維持緊密聯繫。我們為藝術家和創作者提供一個不受藝術市場限制的空間，以支持他們的創作。另一方面，我們將FILET 定位在人們的日常生活中，並且努力讓其可以被看見。因此我們也鼓勵藝術家思考這一點，並且嘗試以新的方式向大眾傳達他們的理念。

SS: 你如何思考與確保 FIELT 的永續性呢？

F: 我們透過讓空間隨著時間演變來確保其可持續性與永續性。我們將這個空間開放給策展計劃之外的創意活動，並以可負擔的租金來保持 FILET 財務上的穩定。我們期待能支持那些採用 DIY 和可持續方法的創作者，儘管我們的展覽節奏很快，FILET 也在不斷變化，但如此的變化不是依靠搭建假牆或複雜的佈景，而是透過藝術、思想、社群和多元的創作實踐來填滿這個空間。